Precious People
by diecupcakes
Summary: Sasuke and Naruto's jutsus collide with Sakura on the hospital roof.


Haruno Sakura's carefully cut apples crunched under Sasuke's shoe. She toppled backward as he rushed past her to chase after Naruto to the hospital roof. They had challenged each other to another fight.

Sakura felt something twist in her gut. Teammates shouldn't be like this! And Sasuke - Sasuke had no right to just stomp over her hard work like it was invisible, like she was invisible! Leaving her behind...once again.

Seething, Sakura cleaned the remains of the apples off the pristine white hospital floor, scooping a few pieces here and there from beneath the hospital bed. It was futile to try to stop them, she'd only get in the way, Sakura reasoned. But...there was a possibility of them getting hurt. After all, Naruto had learned a new jutsu, and Sasuke knew Kakashi-sensei's chidori. Sakura paused, and slowly stood up. She wouldn't be left behind, overlooked like this!

The next thing she knew, she had thrown open the hospital roof's door. The sound of a thousand birds chirping filled the air, accompanied by the quiet burr of a forming rasengan.

Sakura shot chakra to her legs.

The boys charged.

Sakura screamed.

She fell to her knees. A rasengan through her stomach, courtesy of Naruto. Naruto...she'd been too harsh on him. Now she'd never have the chance to apologize.

Sakura choked, coughing blood. Her mangled body spasmed.

As electricity from the chidori coursed through her veins, Sakura was reminded of her first C-ranked mission. It had been the first time she'd seen the chidori as an assassanation jutsu. The first time she'd seen someone - albeit a stranger - die.

Dimly, she recalled Haku saying if he could protect his precious person, he would be strong. He had sacrificed his life for Zabuza's. Just as she was now, sacrificing her life in exchange for her teammates'.

Zabuza had recognized Haku as a precious person. She wondered...had Zabuza and Haku ended up together in the afterlife, as they'd wanted? She hoped so.

As the light in Sakura's eyes disappeared and she drowned in blackness, fading from the world she'd known for so long, her only thought was: why did it have to end this way?

Sakura woke in a bright, golden place. She was alone.

"Hello?" Her voice echoed. "Am I dead?" A chidori through the heart had killed Haku, and Naruto's jutsu wasn't harmless.

"No." A sharp voice answered. Sakura started. She knew that voice. But it couldn't be. Could it? She slowly turned.

And stared.

"Momochi...Zabuza?"

"Indeed." Zabuza folded his arms and stood tall, large sword hung on his back. His eyes glinted. "Why am I here, brat?"

"I-I don't know!" Sakura stammered. "I'm dead! I think! And you're dead!"

"You're not dead." Zabuza repeated. "Yet. However, I am."

"What do you mean,'I'm not dead?' I was hit by both the chidori and rasengan; of course I'm dead! Oh, Kami, I'm dead! I'll never live to marry Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shook her head in her hands and wailed.

"Kunoichi." the S-ranked ninja snapped. "Get a hold of yourself. What happened?"

Sakura stilled. "M-my teammates were fighting. They were going to kill each other. And I...I couldn't let that happen. So I stepped in, because they are my precious people. Were, I guess. I-I learned that from you and Haku." As an afterthought, she added, "I never got the chance to thank you for that. You and Haku taught me what it meant to be strong."

Zabuza stiffened at that, but Sakura didn't notice, eyes shadowed by pink hair. "I think I understand now," she continued, "what it means to be strong."

Zabuza chuckled, glancing at her skinny arms and legs. Sakura jumped at the sound.

"Pinkie, you barely scratched the surface. I will ask you once more: Why am I not with Haku?"

Sakura yelped as the S-ranked ninja advanced, and stumbled back. "I swear, I have no idea!" She shrieked. "Please don't hurt me!"

Zabuza stopped at that, and frowned. "Give me your hand." He demanded.

"What? No!"

Zabuza made to grab it, only for his own to pass through. He 'hmm'd' in thought.

"It seems as though I was correct, brat." Zabuza spoke. "I'm dead. You're not. And we're in your mindscape."

"But if I wasn't dead, why would I be with you?" Sakura said stubbornly. "And what's a mindscape? Am I going crazy?"

Zabuza scowled. His eyes narrowed. "Shut it."

Sakura closed her mouth. But...if she was dead, wasn't she entitled to questions? And why was Zabuza here? "Am I in Hell?" She asked tentatively, peering at the S-ranked ninja through her curtain of pink hair. As it left her mouth, Sakura flinched.

Zabuza looked a decade older. "No, kid. Not Hell. A mindscape. The area you enter while chakra-meditating. Or under strenuous circumstances, like being unconscious and on the edge of death." He looked pointedly at Sakura.

"Oh. So...why are you in my mindscape?" Was Zabuza another representation of her repressed feelings? Inner Sakura had been hard enough to handle. Sakura shuddered to think what it meant if an S-ranked missing-nin from the Bloody Mist represented her feelings.

"That, I have yet to find." Zabuza muttered darkly. Then he disappeared. A second, he was there, then simply not.

"Zabuza-san! Come back!" Where was he?

Pain exploded in her chest, and Sakura screamed. She crumpled into a ball. The world around her shifted and swirled.

The heart rate monitor beeped. Sakura's nose tingled with the sharp scent of antibiotic. She was in a hospital. Sakura cracked an eye open. White walls, white bed, and a brown chair greeted her. Kakashi-sensei sat in the brown chair, lone eye staring at her. She gulped, events rushing back. Naruto and Sasuke's fight. She had taken the full brunt of it. Kakashi-sensei would kill her. Then Zabuza. Had she imagined that? Probably.

"I'm still here, brat." Zabuza's voice reverberated in her brain. Sakura almost yelped in surprise. Kakashi-sensei raised an eyebrow.

"Ka-Kakashi-sensei." Sakura croaked. "Water?"

He silently passed a glass of water. Sakura sipped at it.

"Sakura."

"Y-yes, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura's hair covered her eyes.

"Don't do that again." His voice cracked at the end, when Sakura looked up in surprise, his eye shimmered with tears. She bit her lip, and looked down again. She had never seen her sensei cry.

"What you did was reckless, foolish, impulsive. You could have died. I didn't expect such behavior from you, Sakura."

"I know." Sakura whispered.

Kakashi-sensei sighed. "I've suspended Team Seven for a week. Think about your actions." As Kakashi-sensei stood to leave, he paused and said, "The Godaime Hokage worked hard to revive you. You have her to thank for your complete recovery." He closed the door behind him.

Sakura frowned, remembering the severity of her wounds. A chidori to the heart...and the Hokage had healed it? Not to mention the rasengan. And both areas felt smooth, like she hadn't been wounded in the first place.

In her head, Zabuza said, "Your Hokage must be an extraordinarily talented medical ninja. Possibly the best. You would be dead if not for her, brat."

Sakura gulped. The new Hokage was really strong, then. Sakura didn't know medical ninjutsu could do so much.

Sakura was torn from her thoughts as the door to her room opened and a male medical ninja entered, carrying a clipboard. He stopped by her bed. The ninja performed a few rapid-fire hand seals, and his hands glowed green. He passed his glowing hands over Sakura's chest, scribbled something onto the clipboard, and straightened. Sakura stared at his hands, and down at her chest. How was he able to check her body for injuries? And so quickly, too!

Sakura barely registered when the medical ninja told her she was discharged and left, still caught up in her amazement.

"It's a diagnostic jutsu." Zabuza said. "Haku knew a few medical jutsus from here and there. He talked about them a lot. I think he would've liked to be a medic-nin...if not for the circumstances."

"Oh." Sakura swallowed. "I'm sorry. You should be with him. Not stuck with me...a useless, annoying kunoichi who couldn't even stop her genin teammates from killing each other without getting seriously injured." Sakura's eyes itched, and welled up. "You even admitted it. I'm weak." Sakura's short hair enveloped her face as tears slid down her cheeks like blood from a corpse, thick and plentiful. Rays of the setting sun drifted through the hospital window, coloring the room in dark shades of red. "I-I don't even deserve to be a genin." A fresh wave of tears pricked at her stinging eyes. She rubbed at them furiously, only succeeding to worsen the sensation.

When Zabuza spoke, it was quiet. "You're right," he said. Sakura dropped her head. "you don't deserve to be a genin. You did nothing during your mission. You're obsessed with one of your teammates. You're a pathetic kunoichi who, rightfully, should have died on your first C-ranked mission."

Sakura felt a sharp pang in her heart. But what he said next was worse.

"Haruno Sakura, you should quit life as a kunoichi altogether."

Sakura felt her heart stop.

"No." Sakura clenched her fists and spoke out loud before she could stop herself. "I will not! I am a kunoichi of Konoha and I will stay that way, Shannaro!"

A slow clapping filled her head. "Precisely. And that is why you won't quit. You want to become stronger, brat, and I want to help you."

The hospital loudspeakers screeched. Sakura jumped, and turned to stare at the speaker on her wall. In a monotone, professional voice, it said: "I would like the discharged patient in Room 337 to know that yes, you are a Konoha kunoichi, but that does not change the fact that you are obligated to adhere to the hospital rules. Please minimize your loud disturbances; some patients are attempting to rest. You were discharged thirty minutes ago. Kindly direct yourself to the closest exit effective immediately, or we will contact security to escort you out of the building."

Belatedly, Sakura realized she was, in fact, in room 337. Her face burned as she searched for an exit. She spotted the window, unlatched it, and slipped out. The cold night air hit her like a sledgehammer to the face. The last rays of the setting sun disappeared, and the sky darkened. Shivering, Sakura scampered down the hospital wall, using her chakra. She had to stop a few times. By the time Sakura reached the bottom, she was panting, and her chakra reserves felt like she had done ten bunshin in quick succession. Not good.

"You have pitiful chakra reserves." Zabuza noted as she walked to her home in the civilian district."Your chakra control could be described as good - if you had a larger amount of chakra. But you don't. So you'll have to refine your control, and learn to work with what you have."

Sakura stopped. "Why are you helping me, Zabuza?" Sakura said tiredly. "You were just telling me to quit!"

"Look brat, like I said, you want to be stronger - "

"So? Every ninja in the Elemental Countries wants to be stronger!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Don't interrupt me. Yes, but you...you're different - you want to protect your precious people. You remind me of Haku." Zabuza admitted softly. "And I admit, I am in need of a living apprentice to pass my skills onto."

"But...you're an S-ranked ninja! You wouldn't choose a weak genin like me to inherit your techniques!"

"I don't have a choice, brat."

Sakura smiled. It felt good to be needed. She resumed walking. "What do I call you? Will 'Zabuza' be fine?"

"Yeah, yeah. As I was saying, if you refine your chakra control to the point where your meager amount of chakra can be just as useful as my large reserves, I'll teach you how to increase your chakra."

Sakura gaped. "But...won't that take a long time? Can't I just try to increase my chakra reserves first?"

"No. As your sensei, I forbid you from trying to deliberately increase your reserves as per my orders. Let them grow naturally, for now.

You also need strength, stamina, and speed training, from what I've seen. Your taijutsu is highly lacking. Your genjutsu is non existable, although I see you're a genjutsu type. Your ninjutsu is pitiful."

They walked a little further. Zabuza told her about his plans for her training. Leaves fluttered to the ground, and the full moon shone in the night sky.

Sakura stopped suddenly, panically remembering.

"No. Don't do that. You'll get hurt." Zabuza warned.

"I don't care! I have to!"

Sakura changed directions, and started running, faster than ever before. Her sandals clacked on the stone ground. She stopped when she saw a figure heading toward her. Her breath caught as she gazed at the figure's covered shoulder.

"What are you doing, wandering around here at night?" the figure asked.

Sakura stared at the ground. "...Because in order to get out of the village, you have to take this road."

Sasuke brushed past her. "Go home and sleep."

"Why?" Sakura whispered.

She turned, tears slipping down her cheeks. "Why won't you tell me anything! Why do you always stay silent?" She yelled at his back. Sasuke kept walking.

"Why won't you say anything to me -"

"Why do I have to tell you anything?" Sasuke's voice was haughty. He had stopped walking."It's none of your business. Stop concerning yourself about what I do."

Sakura looked down. Then, she smiled slightly, amongst the tears. "You've…always hated me, huh? Do you remember...the day we became genin and when our three-member team was first chosen? You and I were here alone, and you were mad at me, remember?"

"I don't remember." Sasuke said.

Another tear slipped down Sakura's cheek. "Makes sense." Sakura forced her voice to lighten. "That's something that happened a while ago. But that's the day everything started. You and I...And also Naruto and Kakashi-sensei. The four of us completed a lot of missions together. They were tough, but they were fun." Sakura smiled at the memories. "I know about your clan, but revenge...that won't make anyone happy. No one. Neither you...nor I."

"Just as I thought." Sasuke said.

Sakura glanced up in surprise.

"I'm different from you guys. I walk a different path. I tried to think it was my path to do all the things we've up until now. My heart decided on revenge in the end." His eyes narrowed. "That's my purpose in life. I can't become like you or Naruto."

"Are you going to choose to be alone again, Sasuke-kun? On that day, you taught me that solitude is painful! I understand that so well right now. I have a family, I have friends, but if you're gone...to me...it'll be the same as being alone!"

"From now on," Sasuke said. "A new path will open for all of us."

"But! Sasuke-kun…I love you! If you stay with me, I'll make sure you won't regret it! We'll definitely be happy! I'll do anything for you. So...Please! Stay here! I'll help you with your revenge. I'll do something! So please stay here...with me!" Sakura cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. "If you can't stay...take me with you."

Sasuke turned to look at her hunched form. "You really are...annoying." He walked away.

"Don't leave!" She ran after him. "If you do, I'll scream!"

The Sasuke in front of her disappeared.

"Pinkie!" Zabuza shouted.

Sasuke reappeared behind her with a whoosh.

"Sakura...Thank you." A thump was heard, and Sakura fell unconscious.

Ok, so I know this sucks. Thank you to ' ' and 'cruisegirl86' for reviewing the first version of this chapter and informing me of the technical problems. I'm honored they took the time to do so. I have followed them both.(Not only for gratitude, but because I like their stories - you should check them out! They're much better than mine!) Actually, go check them out now. ' ' has written tons of wonderful Sakura stories for you fans out there, and 'cruisegirl86' has a great HermioneTom recommendation! (Hermione's another of my favorite characters!)

As the Rules and Guidelines love to remind us, we're all aspiring authors. So, please criticize my writing. Don't be afraid to point out anything I could have done better, or even something you liked. Tell me if my characterization is off, or if some scenes are pointless and should be removed. Be brutal. (But not too brutal; I might cry, so be brutal with a reason.)

Also, I don't have a regular update schedule, so I don't know when the next chapter might be up.

Ja ne!


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